Controversial 'code red' drill concludes at Cary-Grove High School

A Cary police car sits out front of Cary-Grove High School in Cary, Ill., before a code red drill takes place today. (Stacey Wescott, Chicago Tribune)

The sound of gunshots echoed in the hallways at Cary-Grove High School on Wednesday as school officials used starter guns to add realism to a "code red lockdown drill."

The training exercise at the McHenry County school alarmed some parents and mental health professionals, who questioned whether the fake gunfire would generate more paranoia about school shootings, which remain statistically rare though widely publicized.

"I am not sure this isn't doing more to instill more fear and anxiety," said Carol Gall, executive director of the nonprofit Mental Health America of Illinois, based in Chicago.

"Also, if every year we are doing drills like this, and there is a real fire or gunfire, are we desensitizing people to what happens if there is a real incident?"

The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., has prompted school officials once again to question whether they are prepared for a similar crisis in their own community. While most schools routinely hold drills for fires, tornadoes and intruders, few are known to go so far as to include students in a scenario that features the sound of gunshots, said Ronald Stephens, executive director of the California-based National School Safety Center.

"That may be cutting out new turf," said Stephens, who is aware of similar drills that include only school staff and police. "You ask, if you do this, what things could go wrong? What are the upsides and risk? It does take a lot of forethought, a game plan and supervision."

In far northwest suburban Cary, community reaction was mixed to the use of starter guns in the drill. School officials said they wanted to give students a chance to practice how to respond to a shooting and to know the sound of gunfire — a lesson some parents said was sad but important.

Other parents, such as Callie Zasada, the mother of a Cary-Grove senior, said she thought "they could do the code red without the actual gunfire. The gunfire could be a bit disturbing or traumatic to some of the kids, considering what happened at Sandy Hook. It's just a little too real."

School officials announced the start of the drill over the intercom at 9 a.m. and then swept the halls, making sure all students were in class, Cary police Chief Steve Casstevens said. Officials banged on classroom doors, then made subsequent announcements before a dean fired two shots from a starter pistol, one on each side of the building. The drill lasted for 15 to 20 minutes, the chief said.

Cary-Grove junior Sarah Dietzel, 16, huddled under a lab desk in her chemistry class, with the door locked, lights off and blinds drawn during the drill. She and her classmates listened to the fake shots and banging and rattling of doors in the simulation.

She said the drill felt similar to a tornado or fire drill and better prepared her in the event of a real emergency.

"I didn't feel scared," Dietzel said. "I feel like more prepared now to know where to go and what to do if it was really happening."

Keaton May, 15, a freshman, was in Spanish class when the simulation began.

"The teachers said to stay in the corner and try to keep quiet," said May, adding that the gunshots were not very loud. "It was a track pistol. No one was really scared by it."

His mother, Joni May, compared it to "intruder drills" she experienced as an elementary school student in Detroit during the 1960s, though they did not have the gunshot noises.

"I think it empowers them to be more knowledgeable," she said. "I want him to know what it sounds like."

In Detroit, "we actually did have an intruder enter our building and we knew what to do," she said.

The use of starter pistols "certainly provided an element of realism to the drill," Casstevens said.

"At the end of the day it is our responsibility and the school's responsibility … that every student goes home safely," he said. "So if that means we have to practice the drills in this manner, then I think we are doing the right thing."

Patty Terzich, of Cary, whose two daughters are sophomores, said she knew the teens might be scared but thought the shots would be an effective teaching tool.

"There are a lot of things in this world that are terrifying," Terzich said. "We are kind of going that way now. So I am perfectly fine they are taking this farther than what other schools have done with code reds."

Some experts agree, including Nancy Zarse, a forensic psychologist at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, who teaches hostage negotiation and violence risk assessment.

"If we practice in unrealistic conditions, our responses will be unrealistic," Zarse said. "We will have eliminated the emotional and the anxiety response. … When our emotions are heightened, it reduces our judgment."

She would approve gunfire simulations even in elementary schools, to prepare students and staff for the ensuing panic, she said.